By Woodrow Carroll
There is always a sense of anticipation just prior to the start of a sports season, including college football. The FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) honor of first up goes to the University of Illinois and Nebraska.
It is listed as Week Zero on the schedule. Saturday, Aug. 28 Illinois will play host to Nebraska at noon to get under way for 130 FBS programs. Only a few other FBS (major college) games will be played that day.
Given the truncated schedules brought about by the pandemic last year, a great deal of guesswork has gone into getting a fix on what to expect in the coming weeks.
Gone at Illinois is Lovie Smith who in five seasons in Champaign as the Orange-and-Blue head coach held a 17-39 won-loss record. In first-year head coach Bret Bielema, 51, the Illini are getting a man with strong Midwest ties.
Bielema went to Prophetstown (Ill.) High School, thence to the University of Iowa where he played for the legendary Hayden Fry. With coaching in his blood, Bielema worked his way up the food chain in the coaching ranks. In 2006, Bielema was named head coach at Wisconsin.
Bielema spent seven seasons in Madison, Wis.. They were good ones with Bielema’s compiling a 68-24 (37-19 in the Big Ten Conference) record.
Perhaps it was the money, maybe the challenge, Bielema took the head coaching job at the University of Arkansas in 2013. In his five seasons at Arkansas, Bielema took his lumps.
Arkansas is an SEC (Southeastern Conference) school, which means facing power teams such as Alabama, Georgia, and LSU sooner or later. In five seasons at Arkansas Bielema’s Razorbacks compiled a 29-34 overall record and only 11-29 in the SEC. Coaching an SEC team with an overall losing record, means an end to tenure as a head coach.
Illinois’ schedule and the changing face of college football make it a mystery as to what to expect in Champaign this Fall.
From 2011 through 2019 Illinois football opened with a victory each season. Few insiders were fooled into thinking the Illini were on their way to great things in those seasons.
Still, early-season victories looked nice. Then reality and formidable opposition kicked in. Not once did Illinois finish .500 or better 2011-2019.
Changes brought on by the pandemic found Illinois playing at Wisconsin to open last season. There were no non-conference games for Big Ten schools last season. True, the biggest victory in Lovie Smith’s tenure was a 24-23 upset of the Badgers in 2019. There was no upset last Fall. Wisconsin routed Illinois, 45-7.
Non-conference games are back on the Illinois schedule this season.
After facing Nebraska, the Illini will play host to UTSA (Texas-San Antonio) September 4, then play at Virginia September 11. After a run of Big Ten Conference games, Illinois will play University of North Carolina-Charlotte October 2 in Champaign to conclude non-conference games.
In the most recent Illinois victory, it was November 21 last season in a major upset at Nebraska by defeating the Cornhuskers, 41-23. The Illini raced to a 28-10 halftime advantage and were never challenged.
Illinois ended with a 2-6 record last season. After three losses to open the season, the Illini beat both Rutgers and Nebraska before falling in their final three games
The Nebraska at Illinois game August 28 merits our attention. Nebraska was only 3-5 a year ago, including the loss at home to Illinois. Nebraska head coach Scott Frost in his fourth season in Lincoln, Neb. and is under pressure to produce positive results.. Records the past three seasons were 4-8, 5-7, and 3-5. In Nebraska, football is king. Clearly, Frost’s job security is tenuous, at best.
It is the Age of Bielema in Champaign. No easy task awaits him. Not since John Mackovic’s record of 30-16-1, 1988-1991, has a coach left Illinois with a record better than .500.